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The top United States military officer says the Pentagon could double the number of American forces in Afghanistan by the middle of next year to 60,000 - the largest estimate of potential reinforcements ever publicly suggested.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said between 20,000 and 30,000 extra US troops could be sent to Afghanistan to bolster the 31,000 already there.
This year has been the deadliest for US forces in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion. Suicide attacks and roadside bombs have become more dangerous, and Taleban fighters have infiltrated wide swaths of countryside and now roam in provinces on Kabul's doorstep.
US commanders have long requested an extra 20,000 troops to aid Canadian and British forces in two provinces just outside Kabul and in the south. But the high end of Mullen's range is the largest number any top US military official has said could be sent to Afghanistan.
Mullen said that increase would include combat forces but also aviation, medical and civilian affairs support troops.
"Some 20,000 to 30,000 is the window of overall increase from where we are now," he said. "We certainly have enough forces to be successful in combat, but we haven't had enough forces to hold the territory that we clear."
Any increased US deployment would be directly tied to force levels in Iraq, where US commanders are drawing down troops.
"The Taleban and extremists are more sophisticated and effective," he said. "They haven't won any battles but they have increased the level of violence. That's why the additional forces are so important, to provide security for the Afghan people so these other areas can be developed."
US officials have plans to send four ground brigades and an aviation brigade to Afghanistan. Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who will continue in the job after Barack Obama becomes President on January 20, has approved the deployment of the aviation brigade.
And 10th Mountain Division forces will deploy next month to two provinces that neighbour Kabul - Wardak and Logar, which have seen an influx of militants in the past year.
After the extra US troops were added over the next eight months, only improvements in Afghanistan's governance and economic situation would affect the strength of the insurgency, he said.
But the chairman conceded the US may have misjudged the central government's ability "to have the kind of impact that we wanted".
Afghanistan had never been run by a strong central government and the US might look to provincial communities and tribes to take on a greater role in future strategy.
Meanwhile, President-elect Obama ushered in a revolution in America's response to global warming when he appointed one of the world's leading climate change experts as his administration's chief scientist.
Obama's decision to make Harvard physicist John Holdren director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy reveals a new determination to draw a line under eight years of US policy in which President George W. Bush steadfastly rejected overwhelming evidence of climate change.
News of the appointment was hailed by scientists around the world, including former British chief government scientific adviser Sir David King.
"This is a superb appointment," he said. "Holdren is a top scientist and his position on climate change is as clear as you could get. This is a signal from Barack Obama that he means business when it comes to dealing with global warming."
Obama also used his weekend radio address to announce that the respected climatologist Jane Lubchenco would head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"Today, more than ever, science [is] key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation," Obama said. "It's time we worked to restore America's place as the world leader in science and technology."
Respect for the scientific process was not "just about providing investment and resources. It's about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted nor obscured by politics nor ideology".
Obama's appointments are outspoken proponents of the need for urgent action over climate change.
The Bush Administration resisted both emission-reduction accords, as well as the introduction of laws to protect threatened species.
For Obama, the creation of this green team is part of a broader push towards economic and environmental self-enlightenment.
He has voiced hope that engaging technology with environmental and energy policy will lead to significant job creation.
Yesterday AP reported that Obama had increased his employment goal with the nation's economic outlook worsening, seeking to create or save three million jobs in the next two years instead of the 2.5 million he proposed last month.
Obama set the more ambitious target last week after meeting top economic advisers who cautioned that the nation's unemployment rate could exceed 9 per cent given the current pace of job losses, Obama transition officials said yesterday.
They said Christina Romer, an economics professor whom Obama has chosen as chairwoman of his Council of Economic Advisers, opened the meeting by arguing that historical data and wide-ranging expert opinions suggested that upcoming economic problems could be more severe than anything the country had faced over the past half-century.
She said the country was likely to lose another three million to four million jobs over the next year without significant action.
Obama declined to put a price tag on his plan, but said the economic problems require a bold approach.
"What we've seen ... is that we're going to have to be bold when it comes to our economic recovery package."
- Observer, AP
